Irelandâs âheroesâ ultimately failed
Ewan MacKenna
There was only one moment that mattered on Saturday. It wasnât Iain Hendersonâs first-half try, it wasnât Jonathan Sextonâs perfectly slotted penalty just after the hour, it wasnât even during the game. Instead it came a few minutes after the final whistle as the lights were dimmed at the Aviva Stadium, a stage was erected in the centre of the pitch, and England climbed the steps to receive the trophy.
We ought to remember that for the point of a tournament is to win it, not just win every other tie. And yet there were our multi-national team, celebrating a great day for Irish rugby as their greatest rivals were receiving silverware behind them. Peter OâMahony, after a superb performance, had his arms in the air; Andrew Conway embraced anyone that came within his range; Rory Best had his children on the pitch. It brought back memories of Ronan OâGaraâs tears after a pool win over Australia in 2011 and of Ian Madigan crying after a victory at the same stage over France in 2015. In essence, celebrating when the primary goal had not been achieved.
Thankfully there were some brief hat-tips to the reality of what has been a failure. âThis team is big enough to be competing for championships,â OâMahony conceded after his joyous reaction to a dead-rubber as his side couldnât bring what amounts to a five-team tournament of four meaningful games down to the last one. âThat was a bit more like us,â added Best, but is it and if so why? Ireland often make promises but they rarely manage to keep them amid wild and hugely frustrating inconsistency. And they are rarely held accountable. Weâve learned in the last year that these guys can beat anyone so why then do they lose to anyone? All in all, rather than this being a positive, it was proof of the choke efforts in Edinburgh and Cardiff and what got away.
But donât let that stop the party for even a fleeting moment of perspective and reflection. By Saturday evening the Irish Independent won the race, proclaiming them âheroes in a momentous winâ on their website. We use that first word with these players like Americans use it for some poor sucker who has been underpaid and exploited for a tour of duty. Thereâs no earning it.
Even The Sunday Times joined in yesterday, comparing a lost tournament to the New Zealand victory when suggesting it was âChicago all over againâ. It wasnât, though. Anyone in media knows that rugby is perceived to be enjoyed by a better class of person therefore driving more advertising cash.
âEnding records is nice, but creating them is what is important
Reality is therefore best avoided. Itâs like spoiling a child though. It may have them smiling in the short-term but in the long run the effects arenât good. After a really poor campaign, as always, the Irish rugby team has been surrounded and softened further by numerous apologists, showing that standards donât matter, nor does winning.
Suddenly a tournament we were tipped by many to triumph in wasnât important. Instead it was about World Cup seeding, or it was about a one-off match independent of the main aim, or it was about halting Englandâs grand slam efforts. When you hear that lot itâs impossible not to think âlosersâ. Itâs safety net after safety net. The equivalent would be Scotland ignoring the fact they came fourth because theyâd gotten hold of the Centenary Quaich or Kerry being proud of losing a Munster finals getting there gives them a bye to the next yearâs semi-final.
These Irish players at their best are incredibly good and it would be a shame to waste their careers on being proud to be second. We did that with our last golden generation, some of the finest sportspeople Ireland had ever produced but who couldnât get past the last eight in a World Cup of essentially nine teams. And we are doing that again. We talk only of the first Test win in South Africa last summer but never how we let the series squirm away; we talk only of the New Zealand win but never the fact we lost the chance to back it up at home a few days later; and we talk now about how we stopped Englandâs record attempt, not the fact theyâd already won where we had already lost.
On the field weâre better than that and off the field we ought to be more mature. Only we are not. Over the weekend we invented new accomplishments to hide the failure and, make no mistake, thatâs what the last two months have been as thereâs no other way to describe coming up short. At this rate weâll run out of room on the shelf for memorial DVDs and have to build an annex. Annoyingly Irelandâs ability is to get to a position of favouritism, but are we mentally strong enough to justify it? Ending records is nice, but creating them is what is important.
Hartley lifted the trophy as we acted like we were the winners
BILLY STICKLAND/INPHO
What were Ireland supposed to do? Win. What was done was done and what was lost was lost. Itâs true that losing to Wales and Scotland didnât mean we should just give up and instead Ireland were good; they were damn good in fact, making a usually superb England look average and flawed. Yet itâs sport, not some social gathering where everyone has a nice time and leaves with a piece of cake. Yes you try and triumph but then you act accordingly. You donât at that point pull off an impression of the gambler who proudly shows the bar his winning stub, while hiding away the others that cause him to be down overall.
And still, amid the hysteria, hyperbole and heroes, many missed out on the key words spoken, the ones that surmised it all. Dylan Hartley stood in front of the microphone as we acted like we were the winners and he said the most simple truth. âWe set out to win this tournament and we won it.â There you had it. To the victors the spoils; to the insecure who came up short though, being spoilers seems to be good enough.
for @ChocolateMice